MySpace moves classifieds, goes more social

MySpace has moved its Oodle-powered classifieds into its Apps Gallery, making it possible for MySpace users to place the Oodle-built application on their personal home pages. It’s better positioning than where it used to be: nearly undetectable, tucked away in a sub-directory tree accessible from MySpace’s footer links.

Classifieds, along with other personal-use features, are being moved to personal-use applications, a strategy that seems to fit in with MySpace’s renewed emphasis on social networking around entertainment. The one-time leading social site’s traffic has been sinking fast against Facebook — off 20 percent since June. Focusing on entertainment — music, movies, games, live venues and the like — was something MySpace does better than its rival. It makes sense to emphasize your compentencies. Classifieds was never a core activity.

The move comes with some pluses and minuses. On the minus side, you might not know MySpace has classifieds unless you happened to be perusing the Apps Gallery or if one of your MySpace friends had the app loaded on her or his home page. On the plus side, you might be more interested in what your MySpace friend is selling or seeking than you would a total stranger. It’s precisely that social aspect of classifieds Oodle has been working to instill. It’s done so rather brilliantly on Facebook, and MySpace’s changes make it possible for Oodle to apply some of the Facebook functionality to its MySpace product.

So far, more than a half-million MySpace users have put the Oodle-powered classified app on their home pages. Only 64.5 million to go.

To find it on MySpace, from the top nav bar, pull down “More.” Click the “Apps Gallery” link. On the page that comes up, click the “Shopping” link in the left navigation rail. You’ll find the “Classifieds” app fourth from the top. Unfortunately, the default ranking on this page is “recently popular” rather than “most users.” There are more than 584,000 users of this app, and in round figures, about a half-million more than any other application in the category. Someday, MySpace will get it right.